Justice Roberts: I Am A Coward
- Thread starter AAAintheBeltway
- Start date
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/steph...tax-increase-obama-i-absolutely-reject-notion
From ABC
STEPHANOPOULOS: You were against the individual mandateâ¦
OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: â¦during the campaign. Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you donât. How is that not a tax?
OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. Here â hereâs whatâs happening. You and I are both paying $900, on average â our families â in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now what Iâve said is that if you canât afford health insurance, you certainly shouldnât be punished for that. Thatâs just piling on. If, on the other hand, weâre giving tax credits, weâve set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, weâve driven down the costs, weâve done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but youâve just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, thatâsâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: That may be, but itâs still a tax increase.
OBAMA: No. Thatâs not true, George. The â for us to say that youâve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What itâs saying is, is that weâre not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that Iâm not covering all the costs.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But it may be fair, it may be good public policyâ¦
OBAMA: No, but â but, George, you â you canât just make up that language and decide that thatâs called a tax increase. Anyâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: Hereâs theâ¦
OBAMA: What â what â if I â if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, thatâs not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I donât want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, thenâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: I â I donât think Iâm making it up. Merriam Websterâs Dictionary: Tax â âa charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.â
OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriamâs Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that youâre stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldnât have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition. I mean whatâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no, butâ¦
OBAMA: â¦what youâre saying isâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to check for myself. But your critics say it is a tax increase.
OBAMA: My critics say everything is a tax increase. My critics say that Iâm taking over every sector of the economy. You know that. Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not weâre going to have an individual mandate or not, butâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that itâs a tax increase?
OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.
(follow the link for the video)
From ABC
STEPHANOPOULOS: You were against the individual mandateâ¦
OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: â¦during the campaign. Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you donât. How is that not a tax?
OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. Here â hereâs whatâs happening. You and I are both paying $900, on average â our families â in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now what Iâve said is that if you canât afford health insurance, you certainly shouldnât be punished for that. Thatâs just piling on. If, on the other hand, weâre giving tax credits, weâve set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, weâve driven down the costs, weâve done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but youâve just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, thatâsâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: That may be, but itâs still a tax increase.
OBAMA: No. Thatâs not true, George. The â for us to say that youâve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What itâs saying is, is that weâre not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that Iâm not covering all the costs.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But it may be fair, it may be good public policyâ¦
OBAMA: No, but â but, George, you â you canât just make up that language and decide that thatâs called a tax increase. Anyâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: Hereâs theâ¦
OBAMA: What â what â if I â if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, thatâs not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I donât want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, thenâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: I â I donât think Iâm making it up. Merriam Websterâs Dictionary: Tax â âa charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.â
OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriamâs Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that youâre stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldnât have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition. I mean whatâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no, butâ¦
OBAMA: â¦what youâre saying isâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to check for myself. But your critics say it is a tax increase.
OBAMA: My critics say everything is a tax increase. My critics say that Iâm taking over every sector of the economy. You know that. Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not weâre going to have an individual mandate or not, butâ¦
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that itâs a tax increase?
OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.
(follow the link for the video)
No, Dred Scott was a scotus decision, but it was later overturned by another scotus decision.
It is an evolutionary process.
Life. Liberty. Pursuit.
Healthcare falls under Life.
Doors
Would it surprise you to know that I am not against the concept of Universal Healthcare?
My two concerns with it are simply:
1. You cannot constitutionally force someone to purchase healthcare. (calling it a tax is mentally insane)
2. How in hell to pay for it.
Would it be nice to provide everyone the ability to cover themselves with insurance to assure they get medical treatment? Of course.
But 9 men and women that are politically appointed to the highest court of the land do not represent what is "right" in my book. Even if they get it right sometimes by accident.
No, Tsing, it would not. I know what you are, which is why I left you off my welcome dirge to the newbie a few days ago.
You are a Paleo-Liberal. America was founded on Liberalism.
I get what you are saying, but it is the best system going that we have. If you have a better idea how to do things, I'm all ears. So far, no one has been able to do better than our founders.
BTW, if you read back, they did predict all of this, you know.
Not that I much understand healthcare, luckily I have rarely needed any, but...
1. Tend to agree. What, if I run off to Alaska, build a cabin, and hunt and trap "off he grid", I still accrue a healthcare bill every year?
2. Costs must not exceed revenues. I suppose the theory here is that the total new revenues will exceed the total new costs. Probably true if most of the new revenues come from young people--pre existing conditions should be comparatively scarce amongst them. Yes, I think we might be compelling the young to care for the old.